Spent the morning with
Jess, Paul, Ian and James looking at various aspects of the work of the
Department.
Made to feel very
welcome and were very open and honest inn outlining the challenges and
opportunities for the work with young people.
They have five pillars
of engagement: namely Youth Justice; Youth Development; Civic Engagement;
Leadership and Social Enterprise.
The Department has a
volunteer team of some 350 people who are recruited from universities, the
website and word of mouth. This has $1 million of benefit in kind.
The work undertaken
covers the whole of Victoria, however a major concentration is in Melbourne.
The work has a primary
focus on empowering young people and encompass:
Youth Parliament: This programme runs annually in conjunction
with the Victorian State Government’s office for Youth and has been running for
almost 30 years. It involves 120 young people annually and issues are debated
and Bills passed. Those passed are then forwarded to the Minister for Youth who
in turn distributes them to the relevant Government Minister. Since inception
15 Bills passed from the Youth Parliament have become legislation with the
State of Victoria.
Youth for Causes: This pilot programme introduces young people
between 15 – 25 to social enterprise experiences. Teams of four to five young
people are given $2000 to develop a social enterprise idea and bring this to
life for another charitable organisation. The YMCA provides professional
mentoring and support through workshops and webinars.
Youth Voice: The YMCA
Is committed to listening to the voice of young people and have put in
place a number of strategies
to enable this. For example, there are two places on the Board of Victoria YMCA for young people under the age
of 30. A young
people’s strategic development
team, consisting of young people has been set up
whose primary role is advocacy
and promotion. There are challenges such as how to
hear the voice of young
people in their recreation centres and the need
to empower the wider staff team across the YMCA.
Centre for Empowering
Young
People: A new centre
is soon to open that will provide a greater resource for programmes and opportunities that will support young people to reach their potential, lead change and be
entrepreneurial.
Work is also
undertaken in supporting young people involved in criminal
justice system, mentoring programmes for disadvantaged youth and after school
and holiday activities.
It was clear
form the session that there is a huge
commitment and passion to work
with young people from across the social and economic spectrum.
We were hugely grateful to the
staff team who gave their time to share
the work they are undertaking.
Office of the National YMCA of Australia
I and two members of
the delegation who happen to be National Board Members had the opportunity to
visit the National office in Melbourne. We spent a short time, Stephen, with
the newly appointed National Youth Empowerment Officer. Part of his role is to
have a shared language and understanding of youth empowerment and how to assess
the impact of this work.
He indicated that a
lot of work had been undertaken by the YMCA of Los Angeles Youth Institute on
this.
We then had the
opportunity to meet with Melinda Crole, the interim Chief Executive Officer.
We explored a number
of issues, including:
Ø There are 22 local associations with a combined
annual turnover of $430 million (£270M)
Ø The affiliation fee, as a percentage of
turnover, paid by local YMCAs range from 0.15 to 0.20 and this makes up 85% of
the income of the National Council.
Ø The minimum affiliation fee is $10,000.
Ø No staff from a local YMCA is permitted to be a
member of the National Board.
Ø Voting entitlement is tiered, with a cap of 15%
Ø The have an 89% brand recognition with a far
lower recognition of what the YMCA does.
Ø 15 years ago they started a process of licence
agreements with local YMCAs which took 6 years to be fully implemented.
Ø The licence agreement gives the National
Council the right to intervene in a local YMCA in certain nationally agreed
circumstances.
Ø There is a fit for purpose programme in place
covering financial sustainability, purpose and relevance and safeguarding.
Ø The National Council has the authority to
remove the name from a local YMCA.
Ø The local YMCAs have doubled in size in the
last ten years.
Ø The Chair of the National Board has a key role
in ensuring regular communication with the Chairs off local YMCAs.
Ø Chairs of local YMCAs are brought together
every six months.
Ø The CEOs of local YMCAs are brought together
every three months.
Ø Governance training is a key role of the
National Council
Ø Local YMCAs are appointed as National champions
for certain areas. YMCAs would be asked to bid for such roles.
Ø Risk audits are undertaken of local YMCAs and
these are now outsourced
We are indebted to
Melinda for her frank and open responses to our unending questions and a phrase
she used will remain with me:
“We can no longer be debilitating
polite”
Paul Smillie
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